Offering everyday tips to the everyday homeowner. Beyond The Stage Homes is a division of Style Corporation.

Monday, February 1, 2010

Valentine's Issue - Love Your Home - BTSH Around The House Tip of the Week

With Valentine’s Day around the corner, why not share a little love with your home? Is there a room in your home that is feeling neglected? A complete home makeover may not be in the budget, but there are lots of cost-effective ways to give your home a special treat. Redesign focuses on working with what you already have, but finding new ways to reconfigure, repurpose, and revive for a fresh new look.

Clear Out The Clutter
Yes, this generally falls under “Spring Cleaning”, but in the springtime I like to be outside, so to me this is a great winter project. Nothing revives a room more than simply re-organizing. As much as I strive for a place for everything, and everything in it’s place, clutter can inevitably build up. Go through your closet and clear out the clothes you don’t wear and donate them to a local charity. Then take a look around the rest of your home with fresh eyes. Are your toiletries taking over your bathroom? Pick up some matching decorative baskets and group like items together. Weed out items that are not used every day and find them a new home. I picked up these baskets at the dollar store for $2 each, but no one really needs to know that!

Re-Arrange Your Space
Sometimes we get so accustomed to our room layout, that it doesn’t occur to us to change it. In Home Staging, I find that the number one problem with most homes is the furniture arrangement. It’s amazing what re-configuring can do to a space. Be sure to measure before doing any heavy lifting. For rooms that are used often for entertaining, determine your focal point. If you have a fireplace, or distinct architectural features, this can be obvious. Otherwise, perhaps it’s a bold painting, or a focal wall, or maybe it’s a vignette that you created after reading last week’s article! Once you have determined this, arrange the furniture to compliment the focal point, and not distract from it or worse yet, hide it.

Small Projects with Big ResultsPaint—I speak often of the wonders of paint. It really is the most cost effective way to dramatically change the look of a room. If you’re not interested in a painting a whole room, consider a focal wall. Take a look at your furniture. Have a piece that is dated, but isn’t in the budget to replace? Give it a face-lift with a fresh coat of pain.

Hardware—replace your hardware on cupboards in your home, whether it’s your kitchen cabinets, your bathroom cabinets, or your dresser. Updated pulls and handles can make a world of difference.

Add a colourful area rug to a room that is lacking in colour. This is an especially great tip for decorating in apartments, where it’s not always an option to paint.

Lighting—move your lamps, or add a dimmer switch to your chandelier to change the mood of a room.

Replace Your Bedding—while a decent bedding set can be considered costly, if that’s the only thing you do in your master or guest bedroom to change the overall look, it is money well spent!